Endowment Fund Boosts Holdings in iShares Bitcoin Trust
Harvard University has substantially increased its investment in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), boosting its holdings by over 250% in the third quarter. This follows the Ivy League institution's initial investment in the fund earlier this year.
The Harvard Management Company, which manages the university’s substantial $57 billion endowment fund, disclosed in a regulatory filing that it held over 6.8 million shares in the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) valued at $442.8 million as of September 30.
Previously, the university had revealed in August that it had established a position in IBIT for the first time, holding approximately 1.9 million shares at that point, which were worth $116.6 million.
A Rare Move for University Endowments
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, it is considered "super rare and difficult" for a university endowment to invest in an ETF. He commented on Friday that such an investment represents significant validation for an ETF, although he noted that Harvard’s IBIT investment constituted only about 1% of its total endowment.
Balchunas also stated that IBIT was Harvard's largest investment reported in its filing and represented its "biggest position increase in Q3." This move now positions Harvard as the 16th-largest holder of the ETF.
In August, following Harvard's initial purchase of IBIT, Balchunas had remarked that endowments are typically "notably anti-ETF" and are the most challenging institutions to persuade to invest in ETFs.
Diversified Investments in Tech and Gold
Beyond its significant Bitcoin ETF holdings, the remainder of Harvard’s investments are primarily concentrated in major U.S. technology companies. These include substantial stakes in Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
The university also made a new investment of $16.8 million in Klarna, a prominent buy-now, pay-later fintech company. Additionally, Harvard acquired $59.1 million worth of shares in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
Harvard also nearly doubled its exposure to gold. Its share ownership in the gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), increased to 661,391 shares, valued at $235.1 million. This marks a significant rise from its previous holdings of 333,000 shares reported in August.
Market Context for Bitcoin ETFs
Data from SoSoValue indicates that Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows totaling $1.11 billion during the trading week that concluded on Friday. This occurred as the price of Bitcoin fell below the $100,000 mark.
Bitcoin is currently trading below $95,000, having reached a low of $93,029 in the past 24 hours. This price movement briefly erased the year-to-date gains for the cryptocurrency.